episode_0045

The morning dawned. Or perhaps it was already noon.

Thanks to the long weekend, I slept in for the first time in a while.

Since I decided to skip my morning workout, I slept deeply.

I stretched and, to clear my groggy mind in the morning, poured a glass of cold water from the water dispenser and drank it.

The sensation of the cold water traveling down my throat and reaching my stomach felt like drawing a path, and in response, my eyes snapped open.

People say cold water isn’t good for the body, but once you get addicted to this sensation, you can’t get enough of it.

I placed the cup on the sink and enjoyed the quietness of the house as I lay back down on the bed.

…Why.

Those who have experienced it will know that lying in bed sober is happier than sleeping.

I felt like I wanted to lie in bed all day, but sadly, I couldn’t do that as I had made a promise to myself.

The promise was to take care of the things I had put off during this long weekend.

I picked up my phone, which was charging on the bedside table, and saw the guys chatting in the group chat since early in the morning.

Well, even during the holiday, they are diligently living their lives.

Still, even I, who make such remarks, might be planning to live diligently, thanks to the power of youth.

Among the waves of casual chat messages, I pressed on Isea’s photo.

After opening a 1:1 chat room with Isea, I tapped on my phone to compose a message.

“What are you doing?”

…Hmm. Does this sound too dry? Deleted.

“What are you up to today?”

…Hmm. This doesn’t feel right either. Deleted again.

“Are you free today?”

…Hmm. This wording feels too strong. Deleted once more.

Ugh. The difficulty level of “sending a first message” was too high for me.

Then, I thought about how I would phrase a message to a friend and finally, after much deliberation, I was about to send a perfect message: “Are you free today? We had plans last time, how about having lunch together?”

“Jina, are you awake?”

Oops.

I received a message from Isea first.

I paused for a moment, my hand trembling as I was about to reply.

Then, I quickly erased the message I was typing and replied.

“Hey.”

I sent the message and immediately regretted it.

I felt uneasy about replying so curtly.

Ugh. I should just reply quickly as usual…

That was my usual standard.

While I was racking my brain, I received a reply from Isea.

“What did you want to tell me? The numbers disappear right away, hehe.”

Gasp…!

I’ve been caught.

These days, kids are too quick to catch on.

Trembling, I rewrote the sentence I had written earlier and replied.

“It’s nothing special, I just wanted to ask about our plans from last time, how’s your schedule today?”

Great. This sentence is so perfect, there’s nothing to fix.

I felt my digital communication skills had once again improved.

While basking in self-praise, I received a reply from Isea.

“Great! When should we meet? I just woke up, haven’t had breakfast or lunch yet. Let’s have lunch together! Do you need to get ready now? Call me when you’re ready?”

Isea types on her phone very quickly.

But how did she know I just woke up?

After replying to Isea’s message, I got up from bed.

Anyway, now that I’ve made plans to go out with Isea, I headed to the bathroom to get ready.

For a moment, I thought the whole process felt like a man and woman preparing for a date, but then I quickly dismissed the thought.

* * *

“Hehe. Jini was the first one to text me.”

Lying on the bed, Isea hugged the robot cat doll tightly in her arms.

It was a doll that Seo Ijin had given her as a birthday present when she was young.

The day that heralded the beginning of the holiday. From the morning, she was chatting with her friends in the group chat.

Seeing the last remaining number 1 disappear, she immediately messaged Ee-jin, noticing that her own number disappeared right next to it, she caught on to the whole situation.

Knowing that Ee-jin had opened a one-on-one chat window due to his personality, Se-ah immediately asked him about it.

And in the ensuing conversation, she could confirm her guess was correct.

At that moment, Se-ah felt a deep sense of happiness.

She also knew that Seong Yoo-rin and Hong Yeon-seo had also urged Ee-jin to go out with them, in other words, to go on a date.

Of course, being childhood friends played a big role, but so what?

For whatever reason, the fact remained that she was the first one.

Unable to lie still any longer, Se-ah burst into laughter as she hugged the doll next to her as if it were Ee-jin.

Just as the robot cat doll was starting to transform into a dangerous form, Se-ah snapped out of it.

“Ha! This is not the time for this. I need to hurry up and shower and pick out clothes!”

It was a well-known fact that she took longer to get ready than Ee-jin, being a woman.

It was almost twelve o’clock now, and if she was any later, Ee-jin, who hadn’t even eaten breakfast, would be very hungry.

Se-ah, who couldn’t stay still any longer, stopped rolling around on the bed.

Throwing the doll and phone she was holding onto the bed, Se-ah jumped out of the room, the floor echoing with her footsteps.

* * *

After quickly finishing my preparations for going out, I sat in the massage chair and began to contemplate a crucial question.

‘What should I eat?’

A tremendous dilemma that could easily be called the 8th wonder of the world, in addition to the 7 wonders of the world, tormented me.

Although I hadn’t gone with Se-ah before, it seemed like I had only been to Japanese restaurants so far, so I crossed out the tonkatsu and ramen restaurants on my list.

What does Se-ah like…?

I hadn’t seen her picky about food while we were together.

If she had a particular favorite food, I would definitely know. After all, we’ve known each other for 10 years.

That was the reason I was racking my brain.

It seemed like anything would be fine.

But I couldn’t decide.

This ambiguous state…!

I sent a message asking Se-ah if she wanted to eat something, but she remained silent.

Must be busy getting ready.

Well, girls her age probably take a lot of time to get ready. I understand.

I continued to contemplate while waiting for her reply that never came, tapping the back of my phone.

* * *

“Ugh…. Did you take too long to shower?”

Se-ah, who had taken longer than expected to shower due to applying a lot of expensive treatments and body lotions she had just opened, was feeling the touch of her mother drying her hair.

As she started putting on makeup, Se-ah’s mother teased her, having caught on to her unusual morning.

“Is Jin sleeping over at our house today? Hehe.”

“Mom!”

Se-ah’s mother, who had caught onto Se-ah’s unusual morning, continued to tease her while helping her and seemed half serious about it.

“Se-ah, we need to hurry. It’s almost lunchtime.”

Se-ah felt a pang of anxiety.

‘I… I need to hurry. Jin might get mad.’

Se-ah knew Seo Ee-jin, and he wasn’t the type to get mad over something like this, but he might be disappointed in her internally.

Se-ah’s frantic movements became even busier, but the girl’s desire to look beautiful for the man she liked demanded more adornment.

After finishing a full makeup session, Se-ah, who had chosen one of the outfits her mother had picked out, left the house, taking over an hour to get ready.

As if she might break into a sweat, Ise-ah hurriedly left her house, barely managing to pull out her phone and call Seo Jin. At that moment, he…

* * *

“Ugh….”

Women really do take a long time getting ready to go out.

Reflecting on how I finished getting ready in just 10 minutes, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had prepared too hastily. Shouldn’t I be doing something right now? I thought to myself.

How long had I waited? As hunger began to creep in, my voice, vibrating along with the massage chair, was cut off by the ringtone.

“I’m here.”

Seeing Ise-ah’s name on the phone screen, I got up from the chair.

As I answered the call and turned off the chair, I could hear Ise-ah’s urgent voice.

“Jin-ah…! Sorry, am I too late? I’m on my way to your place now.”

Even just hearing her voice over the phone, I could feel Ise-ah’s apology.

“No. I’m at home. I’ll come over there. We have to go downtown anyway.”

“Mm… I’ll wait for you. Sorry. I should have called you earlier.”

“Why are you apologizing for this? I’ll hang up for now. See you in front of your place.”

After ending the call, I checked the gas and electricity and left the house.

…Ah. I should have asked Ise-ah what she wanted to eat before hanging up.

As I left the house, I entered the chat room with Ise-ah.

Seeing the number next to the unread messages, I sent the same message again.

“What do you want for lunch?”

Only after sending a new message with the same content did Ise-ah finally check it.

A moment later, her reply came:

“Do you want to eat what Jin wants to eat!”

…………

Among many choices, Ise-ah had chosen the worst option.

Ise-ah must have said that with the intention of choosing what I wanted to eat, as a way of showing care and consideration for me.

In the end, as I walked to Ise-ah’s house, I couldn’t help but shake my head.